take time off work to finish off the rest
yeah, the problem with this is that there's only a small to middling chance that any time booked off will actually be flyable! Need a flexible boss. My current ratio for lessons booked/lessons flown is 4/18.
Anyway, Adam said he can only fly weekends because he's self-employed, so maybe it's not an option anyway.
1d2d3d4d's comment is most sensible. I've learned a hell of a lot from hanging out with instructors and other students, or just whiling away the odd half-hour with a receiver.